Today, marine industry is making new attempts to harvest wind power to propel aquatic vessels. Typically, a conventional propulsion system for an aquatic vessel includes one or more propellers for propelling the aquatic vessel, and multiple Magnus rotors for supplementing the propellers. The Magnus rotors rotate about corresponding substantially upright axes to produce a Magnus effect to propel the aquatic vessel. The Magnus effect may be defined as a thrust acting on a rotating body in a moving airstream, such as wind, wherein the thrust acts perpendicularly to a direction of the moving airstream.
A crew of the aquatic vessel needs to control operations of the propellers and the Magnus rotors to produce propulsion power required for propelling the aquatic vessel. The required propulsion power may change during a course of a journey of the aquatic vessel. Accordingly, the propulsion power may be generated by the propellers alone, by the Magnus rotors alone, or by the propellers and the Magnus rotors together, depending on various factors. For example, in a harbour or other narrow regions, the aquatic vessel may be manoeuvred using the propellers alone, as wind conditions may not be favourable for the Magnus rotors. While in high seas, the aquatic vessel may be propelled using the Magnus rotors alone, to save fuel.
Moreover, thrusts generated by the Magnus rotors depend on rates and directions of rotations of the Magnus rotors relative to an apparent speed and an apparent direction of wind. Apparent wind conditions change regularly during the course of the journey of the aquatic vessel. Moreover, the apparent wind conditions may be different in different portions of the aquatic vessel. Therefore, the rates of rotations of the Magnus rotors need to be adjusted repeatedly with changing apparent wind conditions in order to maximise propulsion from the Magnus rotors. This may pose additional problems for the crew of the aquatic vessel, who may already find it difficult to control the conventional propulsion system with ever-changing requirements of the aquatic vessel.
The terms “apparent wind speed” and “apparent wind direction” refer to wind speed and direction as observed from an aquatic vessel in motion. In case when the aquatic vessel is stationary, the apparent wind speed and the apparent wind direction are the same as the wind speed and the wind direction in relation to Earth or a fixed object. Measurement of the apparent wind speed can be done technically by employing an anemometer and/or other wind sensors. The wind speed and direction in respect to the fixed object or Earth can be calculated from the measured apparent wind by taking in account a speed and a direction of the aquatic vessel.
In light of the foregoing discussion, there exists a need for a propulsion system for an aquatic vessel that enables a user to control complex operations of the propulsion system in an effective manner, as compared to known conventional propulsion systems.